State v. Flynn

527 N.W.2d 343, 190 Wis. 2d 31, 1994 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1514
CourtCourt of Appeals of Wisconsin
DecidedDecember 6, 1994
Docket93-2532-CR, 94-0425-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by103 cases

This text of 527 N.W.2d 343 (State v. Flynn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Flynn, 527 N.W.2d 343, 190 Wis. 2d 31, 1994 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1514 (Wis. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinions

[39]*39FINE, J.

Robert L. Flynn appeals pro se from a judgment entered on a jury verdict convicting him of two counts of armed robbery, see § 943.32(l)(a), STATS., and from the trial court's orders denying his motion for post-conviction relief.1 We affirm.

Flynn was convicted of the armed robbery of two gas stations in the early morning hours of February 7, 1992. His allegations of trial-court error focus on the trial court's determination that he was arrested lawfully, and on errors that he contended occurred during the trial. They are asserted in eleven separately numbered main arguments. We discuss the ones he has briefed in the order that he has presented them to us.2

1. Police entry into Flynn's home.

An automobile registered at a West Windlake Street address was implicated in one of the robberies. Police officers converged on the residence, where they [40]*40ultimately found Flynn. They did not have either a search warrant or an arrest warrant.

One of the responding officers testified at a pretrial hearing that he knocked on the door of the house on West Windlake Street, that Flynn's wife eventually answered, and that she consented to their entry into her home, which was in the upstairs portion of the two-family residence. According to the officer, they told Mrs. Flynn that they were looking for a white male armed-robbery suspect. The officer testified that Mrs. Flynn said that she owned the car, that she had the only keys, that no one had her permission to drive the car, and that there were no white males in the house. She claimed to be living in the home with only her children and her mother. According to the officer's testimony, Mrs. Flynn also gave them permission to go into the attic, and when they found Flynn there, she told them that she did not know him — commenting that there " 'shouldn't be anyone up there.'"

As the officers were removing Flynn from the attic, he called to his wife: "[D]on't tell the police nothing. Call my attorney." At that point, according to the testimony of the police officers, Mrs. Flynn became "somewhat combative" and "belligerent," and told them to leave. The officers arrested her for disorderly conduct. They took Flynn outside, where he was identified as the robber by one of the victims. He was then arrested.

Mrs. Flynn testified at the suppression hearing. She denied that she consented to the officers' entry into her home and into the attic. The trial court, however, believed the officers' testimony.

Under the applicable standard of review, we uphold the trial court's findings of historical facts [41]*41unless those findings are clearly erroneous. See State v. Schwegler, 170 Wis. 2d 487, 494, 490 N.W.2d 292, 294 (Ct. App. 1992). We analyze de novo the legal issue of whether there was a constitutional violation. See ibid. Our analysis is the same whether we apply the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or article 1, section 11 of the Wisconsin Constitution. See State v. Fry, 131 Wis. 2d 153, 171-176, 388 N.W.2d 565, 573-575 (1986), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 989.

As the trial court recognized in its well-reasoned oral opinion, under the Fourth Amendment, a warrant-less entry and search is presumptively unreasonable. See Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 219 (1973); State v. Boggess, 115 Wis. 2d 443, 448-449, 340 N.W.2d 516, 520 (1983). "It is equally well settled that one of the specifically established exceptions to the [Fourth Amendment] requirements of both a warrant and probable cause is a search that is conducted pursuant to consent." Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 219. The trial court determined that before her husband was discovered in the attic, Mrs. Flynn was fully cooperative and gave the officers permission to do what they did. These historical facts are not clearly erroneous. The trial court then found that Mrs. Flynn's actions constituted consent for the entry and search. This is a finding of constitutional fact because it requires the" 'application of constitutional principles to the [historical] facts as found.'" See State v. Mazur, 90 Wis. 2d 293, 309, 280 N.W.2d 194, 201 (1979) (citation omitted). Although we review independently a trial court's findings of constitutional fact, State v. Woods, 117 Wis. 2d 701, 715, 345 N.W.2d 457, 465 (1984), habeas corpus granted on other grounds, Woods v. Clusen, 605 F. Supp. 890 (E.D. Wis. 1985), aff'd, Woods v. Clusen, 794 F.2d 293 (7th [42]*42Cir. 1986), we agree that the trial court's findings of historical fact lead ineluctably to the conclusion that Mrs. Flynn gave the officers consent to come into her home and to search the attic.

2. Flynn's arrest.

One of the officers responding to the West Wind-lake address testified that Flynn matched the description of the armed robber given by one of the victims. The officers took Flynn from the house for an on-the-scene identification. This was prudent and permissible police practice. See State v. Wilkens, 159 Wis. 2d 618, 626, 465 N.W.2d 206, 210 (Ct. App. 1990) (police may detain a suspect for a reasonable period of time); State v. Isham, 70 Wis. 2d 718, 723-724, 235 N.W.2d 506, 509-510 (1975) (one-on-one identification soon after crime is " 'entirely reasonable'" and " ’promote[s] fairness, by assuring reliability'" because the " 'memory of the witness [is] still fresh'") (citations omitted). One of the victims identified Flynn as the armed robber by his voice. According to an officer's testimony, the victim "stated that she wasn't sure as to the identification, but his voice was, because of the accent in his voice, that it sounded just like the guy at the gas station." This, together with the identification of the Flynns' car as the one driven by the robber, gave the officers probable cause to arrest Flynn. See State v. Mitchell, 167 Wis. 2d 672, 681, 482 N.W.2d 364, 367 (1992) ("Probable cause refers to the quantum of evidence which would lead a reasonable police officer to believe that the defendant committed a crime."); State v. Cheers, 102 Wis. 2d 367, 385-389, 306 N.W.2d 676, 684-686 (1981) (discussing criteria in depth). The arrest was lawful.

[43]*433. Cross examination of Mrs. Flynn at trial.

After Flynn's arrest, the officers found a gun in the house. They did not have a search warrant. The trial court granted Flynn's motion to suppress the gun. Flynn claims that reversal is required because Mrs. Flynn was impeached by the "use" of this suppressed evidence during her cross-examination. We disagree.

Mrs. Flynn testified on direct examination during the course of Flynn's surrebuttal case that she did not sign a statement implicating her husband because the statement "was all lies." During cross-examination, the prosecutor asked Mrs. Flynn the following question: "Do you remember testifying from that same witness chair back on July 27th, 1992, that you were dishonest with the police about something." Mrs. Flynn replied: "One thing. ... I was not honest about one thing."3 Although the underlying reference was to Mrs. Flynn's initial denial that there was a gun in the house, the gun itself was never mentioned.

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Bluebook (online)
527 N.W.2d 343, 190 Wis. 2d 31, 1994 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flynn-wisctapp-1994.